Waffle wheels for vehicles are known in the art and include a rim to support a pneumatic tire having a pair of axially spaced, circumferentially extending bead seats interconnected by a generally cylindrical base. An annular waffle is secured to the base of the rim intermediate the axial ends of the base. A demountable disk including inner and outer flanges interconnected by a web is removably attached to the waffle solely by way of nuts and bolts passing through aligned bolt holes in the waffle and disk.
Unfortunately, gravity and the clearance between the bolts and the holes in both the disk and waffle, allow the disk to be secured to the rim with its center off-center with respect to the center of the rim. It has been found that this potential axial misalignment between the rim and the disk can result in as much as 0.250 inches radial runout. Radial runout adversely affects the ride characteristics and performance of the vehicle on which the wheel is mounted. In addition, radial runout can potentially accelerate structural and component fatigue. Accordingly, improved wheel designs to overcome these disadvantages are sought.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a novel wheel for a vehicle.